Category: AGRICULTURE

ELISA Effective in FMD Diagnosis

ELISA Effective in FMD Diagnosis

 

The use of Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was found to be effective and extremely valuable for diagnosing, monitoring and for the surveillance of foot and mouth disease in the Philippines. Specifically, the assay is useful in the fast detection and diagnosis of FMD suspect cases and in the measurement of antibodies agains FMD virus (FMDV) in serum samples from all animals either vaccinated or infected.

This was revealed in a study conducted by scientists form FMD Laboratory, Philippine Animal Health Center (PAHC) of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI). According to Dr. Blesilda C. Verin, a veterinarian and Rosalinda M. Arvesu a medical technologist who led the team of researchers, ELISA should now be the standard test for diagnosis monitoring, and surveillance of FMD in the country. It will also be used for potency testing of FMD imported vaccines.

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Dump that damping-off diseases

Dump that damping-off diseases

Best agricultural produce are often derived from good production inputs which include high quality and disease free planting materials.
But the indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides to minimize disease infestation especially during seed germination stage remains to be a formidable challenge for our local farmers today. To address this long-standing problem, a study on the use of Trichoderma as a control agent of damping-off disease in vegetable was conducted by a research group headed by Dr. Virginia C. Cuevas at UP Los Banos. The project, which wa supported by the Bureau of Agricultrual Research (BAR), determined the efficacy of Tricoderma as a biological control agent against the pre emergent and post-emergent damping off diseases in lowland vegetables. The damping off diseases, usually caused by fungal pathogens under moist or damp conditions are fatal to seedlings.

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Botanical effective against ectoparasite

Botanical effective against ectoparasite

Today, societal and scientific concerns regarding exclusive dependency on chemicals have emphasized the need for the development and introduction of cheap and environment friendly pesticide alternatives. One such alternative is the use of botanicals to control ectoparasites in poultry , swine and ruminants.
In a recent study conducted by animal scientist from the University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB) eight botanicals were tested for their efficacy in controlling ectoparasites in poultry and selected ruminants namely: carabao, goat, sheep, cattle and dog.

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LSU expert develop new harvesting tools for sweet potato

So much for laborious and slow harvesting methods. Sweet potato farmers in the country can now look forward to a more productive enterprise with the development of a tractor drawn harvester.

Alan Loreto and Manolo Loreto Jr. Researchers of the Philippine Rootcrop Research Training Center (PRCRTC) in Leyte State University (LSU) came up with this harvester featuring a single-row vine cutter and digger after a uear of research in their Bureau of Agricultural Research funded project.

Initial on-station trials revealed that at 1,300 rp the vine cutter could effectively eliminate unwanted vines, leaving only the stalk close to the sweet potato roots to facilitate easier digging. The researchers computed the vine cutter capacity at 1.33 hectares per day at a speed of 2 km per hour.

Morever, the single-row sweet potato digger, another feature of this tractor-drawn harvester, could harvest 1.08 hectares per day at 2 km per hour. The researchers likewise noted that this digger could harvest sweet potato roots with minimal damage on them.

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